Page 85 of Tail, Dark and Handsome: Celestial Mates
He always knew where to find Rebel: at the center of attention. Marigold was unpredictable. Sometimes she loitered in the kitchen. Sometimes she curled up to read in the library. Sometimes she twisted her limbs into odd positions while listening to bells and chimes. Once he found her on the front lawn, sprawled on her back and staring up at the sky. The first time he found her prone, he panicked. She said she was watching the clouds, which was a pointless activity, and told her as much, even as he crawled down on the ground next to her to observe water condensation in the atmosphere.
He knew where to find her.
At the back of the building, a small courtyard sat at the juncture between two buildings. A tall stone pillar sat in the center of a carefully groomed stone garden. Four benches circled, no doubt to represent the four seasons or some such nonsense. Slender trees more suited for decoration than providing shade lined the courtyard. During his brief visits, Winter had observed many engineers and technicians scurry between the buildings, but he had never seen anyone sit quietly in the courtyard. Of course the stone garden called to his mate.
Marigold sat on a bench, her feet folded over her legs like a puzzle, and her head tilted back. With her eyes closed, snow drifted down, melting as it touched her skin, and that crooked little human smile of hers hung on her lips.
Enchanting.
“I’ve only seen snow once before,” she said, not opening her eyes yet sensing his presence. She’d make an outlandish claim about his energy vibrations when they both knew she heard the door to the courtyard open.
“You are not dressed for the weather,” Winter said, the gravel of the courtyard crunching in his boots. The snow fell in flurries, vanishing before it hit the ground.
She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. Snowflakes dusted her brown hair. His heart ached at the sight of her. He did not understand why the universe put this female in his path—he was beginning to sound like Marigold with assigning cognizant decisions to the universe—but now that he had her, he would not let her go.
“It was when I was getting my pilot’s license. Most of the time we were in orbit, because starships, ya know, but the instructors took us down into the atmosphere for inclement weather. There’s only so much you can learn on a simulation.” She lifted a hand to the falling snowflakes. They dissolved the instant they touched her pale fingers. Winter did not like the color.
He took her hands and warmed them with his own. She felt like ice.
“But this is the first time I’ve touched snow and I get to do it with you.” Pink flushed her cheeks, and her eyes sparkled. Snow decorated her hair like a crown. He had never seen anyone more lovely.
He kissed her. Not because this was his mate and Chase claimed the investors needed to see him flaunt his mate. Because he wanted to. Because he could not believe his luck when she smiled at him.
As she pulled away, she licked her bottom lip, like she could taste him. “This isn’t how I envisioned my life six months ago,” she said.
“Nor I.” If anyone had told him a few short months ago that he would take a mate on a whim, because his kit needed a mother and his business needed the appearance of a stable family, he would have laughed them out the airlock. Now, she carried his heart. The expression had never held much meaning to him, but now it meant everything. Marigold meant everything.
“Time is weird, right?”
He sat on the bench next to her, careful to avoid setting his tail down on the cold stone. For a moment he thought about mimicking her posture but decided that his feet did not fold that way.
“You claim many things are weird. I suspect that word does not mean what you think it means,” he said.
She huffed, her breath fogging in the cold air. “I mean, last week it was hot enough I swore my brains were melting and now it’s snowing. And now I’ve got a husband and a stepson who wants to ask a girl out, but is too nervous.”
“Zero told you this? And the weather is not related to anything else you listed.” For all the things Marigold claimed were strange and unusual, she never included herself on that list.
She bumped his shoulder. “I know you’ll always love Rebel,” she started to say.
“Do not say her name,” he interrupted. He could not let Rebel ruin this moment. Not now. Not ever.
Marigold sighed. “I just mean that I know this is fast, so fast, but I’m glad I’m part of your family. I like being here with you. Ilikeyou.”
His tail twitched. She liked him and even said she loved him. She thought his heart belonged to Rebel because part of her heart belonged to the honorless male who broke his vows with her.
Gently, he rubbed her hand between his to warm her. She squeezed his hand.
“You carry my heart,” he said. One day, she would say the same to him.
Chapter 19
Back to rehab? Rebel denies rumors and claims exhaustion as reason for extended stay at a luxury spa.
-Tal Tattler
Marigold
The day started bright and sunny but turned blustery and overcast. The wind howled outside the house, rattling the windows. The weather app on her comm unit claimed that no storms were forecast and Brae swore the windows could withstand the strongest of storm-force winds.
